ANTI-MINING FARMERS ATTEMPT TO SET WORLD RECORD



A small village of around two thousand population set the Guinness World Record for the Tallest Scarecrow in the ricefiled.
Around 80 farmers who are members of Anislagan Bantay Kalikasan Task Force (ABAKATAF) installed a 15-foot tall scarecrow to scare Mining Companies planned to mine their village.
Organized themselves as ABAKATAF in 2001 during the height of rallies against the proposed mining operation of Manila Mining Corporation (MMC) in their village.
Anislagan is an interior barangay of Municipality of Placer, Surigao del Norte. It is mainly populated by peace loving migrant farmers from different islands of Visayas, which the majority was coming from Cebu and Bohol. The small village sits at the foot of Bayugo and Bagacay hills which supplies potable water in this village and the entire town of Placer. Anislagan also provides irrigation to nearby barangay of Sta. Cruz.
MMC and Anglo American, subsidiary company of the London-based transnational Lepanto Mining firm merged for a joint venture agreement called Kalayaan Copper Gold Resources (KCGR) for an mining exploration activity in Barangay Anislagan. KCGR was issued an Exploration Permit EP-XIII-014B last march 5, 2008 without community consultation and the Barangay council's endorsement. This exploration area covers 286.6 hectares in Brgy. Anislagan which is adjacent to the Boyongan project in Tubod, Surigao del Norte.
"It is so inspiring to the see the whole community help in installing the tallest scarecrow in the world and to tell to the whole world that we against mining in our agricultural village", Gigi Dapar, member of ABAKATAF narrated.
The village will not know until three weeks whether the Guinness Book of World Record recognizes its achievement.

Carl Cesar C. Rebuta
Team Leader
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center,Inc –
Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines
( LRC-KsK/FoE-Phils.)
Cagayan de Oro Office
088-856-5045